Old Park Farm Garden Holders Association

At the Annual General Meeting held on Sunday 19th March it was agreed that the only fires allowed on the allotments would be those set on burning Sundays.

The practice of small brazier fires or similar allowed to burn at any time will now cease. This is being done to reduce the risk of complaints and air pollution.

Please take your responsibilities seriously where fires are concerned. Wherever possible compost or leave waste to rot naturally in your garden, or take it off site. Before you light a fire check on wind direction, is the smoke likely to cause a problem, are there already fires causing smoke on site,  if so don’t light yours.  Once a fire is burning DO NOT add wet materials to it as this is the greatest cause of smoke generation.

Communal fires will be provided but only if people stop abusing them. Over the last 3 or 4 months we have had plastics, aerosol containers, carpet tiles, wheelbarrow loads of soil and vegetable waste, insulating material and sometime during this last week a significant amount of carpet, including some that obviously had not been used on a garden put on communal fires. This incident is particularly galling after the number of skips we have had over the last year. I am prepared to issue formal warnings of risk of loss of tenancy to anyone putting us at risk of prosecution and more importantly putting those few who set these bonfires alight in risk of injury or health problems by not following guidelines and common sense.

The committee will reserve the right to announce a change in burning sunday times if there has been consecutively bad weather on previous burning sundays.

As a timely illustration of the problems fires cause us,  after the meeting on Sunday we were informed that one of the local businesses had approached us informally concerned with the amount of ash on their property after burning day.  If the problem persists they are prepared to make a formal complaint to the Council.

So think before you burn and wherever possible dont! Do not abuse communal bonfires or the recycling areas come to that and under no circumstances do you bring rubbish onto site from home or businesses to get rid of it.

Shed stove fires are allowed but again, dry wood only please.

Jackie Medcalf
Secretary OPFACIC